A phone call from Highway 2 between the eastern Washington towns of Wilbur and Davenport Monday gives a verbal picture of life on the "Amber Waves" tour with Peter Goldmark as he travels the state's Fifth Congressional District (WA-05).
by
bullda
Saturday morning, Peter and his wife Wendy along with campaign field representative Mary Ann McCurdy headed off for Colville. Peter's diesel pickup was filled with biodiesel for the tour. He appeared in the Colville parade, then headed to Newport for a noontime gathering in the town park, and finally back to Colville for an evening town park gathering there.
A busy Sunday itinerary took the trio to Republic, Wauconda, and Tonasket. At the final stop in Oroville, Wendy met a well-dressed 80-year-old woman who had moved recently from Denver, a woman who struck Wendy as very cosmopolitan in her perspective. After Peter spoke to the group about his pledge to accept no money or gifts from lobbyists, the woman whispered to Wendy, "You should call that the `Goldmark Standard.'" Wendy assured her that she would pass the message along to Peter.
Folks at tour stops have been a mix of Republicans, Democrats, Independents and undecideds, Wendy reports. "As we progress, I feel like the crowds are not only bigger but a better mix. New faces are showing up all the time, and that's very encouraging. When you see people of different political interests in the same room having issues with what's happening in this country, all of a sudden they are very united in their dislike with what they're seeing in their government right now--very discontent with Congress in particular."
Peter walked through an orchard in Omak with a grower there who has not made an income in the past two years. The grower stays afloat only by selling property and relying on his wife's income. Orchards that Peter used to see full of fruit are nothing but fields of stumps in some places. It's obvious that Congress has not listened to real needs in the district.
More from the Amber Waves Tour later this week on Kos.
See the Amber Waves itinerary.